How To Get Out Of A Funk

We all have those days. The ones where it takes everything you have just to get out of bed and you feel the dark cloud hanging over your head from the moment you wake up to the moment you lay your head down to sleep. The days where nothing can go right, no matter how much you try. The days that just feel hard from the start. Having one bad day is a normal human experience. However, when a day turns into two or a week or a month or a year, that is a bad habit that can cause serious damage to your self-esteem, your relationships, and your health.

We all know that co-worker or friend or family member who is known for their negative attitude. These are the people who suck the life out of the room and who drone on and on about all the bad things going on. These people are quick to complain or point out the negative. It is almost like they attract bad news. We often try to avoid these people at parties or work. The thing about these people is that they often don’t even realize they are doing it. It is tricky to know when you are the negative person in the room.

When you get into a funk it can be hard to get out of if you allow yourself to wallow in it for too long.

I had a bad morning recently that made me want to share my thoughts on how to get out of a funk. I was running late for work (nothing new there lol) and as I rushed around the house trying to make sure that I had everything I needed for the day, my day went downhill very quickly. In a series of unfortunate events my day went from bad to worse:

1- I was having a bad hair day. It was taking forever for me to get my hair done and it WOULD NOT COOPERATE!! You know how it is ladies, when you know you look bad, but you must just give up and accept it…

2- As I was walking through the living room to get my coffee, I did not realize that my cat had gotten sick, and I stepped right in it… Now if that is not the most disgusting thing in the world I don’t know what is…. I had to get that all cleaned up which made me even more late to work.

3- As I was rushing out the door, I must not have closed my water bottle tight enough and the entire bottle of water ended up emptied in the bottom of my lunch bag, and all over my truck.

4- It was of course snowing and when I went to clean off my truck, I ripped one of my wiper blades off the truck so I had no wiper blade

After all of this I was about 20 minutes late for work. Being a toxic people pleaser (Check out the last blog for more details), this of course gave me tremendous anxiety. As I was driving to work like a mad woman trying to make up time, getting stuck in traffic, I was fuming. My day had been ruined so completely and badly, and it wasn’t even 8:30am. The dialogue I was having in my head was extremely negative and was only breeding more negativity with every minute that passed by.

“What a bad day this has turned out to be and it is not even 8:30am!”

“What else could go wrong?”

“I am so mad!”

“This is the worst!”

“I can’t Believe I am going to be Late for work.”

Etc. Etc. Etc.

As I allowed myself to spiral into the black cloud that was surrounding me for about 15 minutes, things began to feel very dismal. I could feel myself becoming negative about more than just my morning. This was when it hit me. I had a choice to make in that moment. I could choose to be negative and angry all day OR I could choose to shake it off and have a good day from this moment forward. I was in control of my day, and I may not have been in control of the weather or my cat or my hair or the fact that I was already late. I could control my attitude, my outlook, my mood, and my actions.

Was It a Bad Day Or Was It a Bad 5 Minutes That You Milked All Day?

When you have a bad day, you need to ask yourself: Was it really a bad day or was it a bad 5-10 minutes that you milked all day? That may sound harsh, but we are all here to try to be better and lying to ourselves doesn’t help anything. In the pursuit of a healthy life, mindset and outlook are key ingredients in your recipe. The only person responsible for you having either a good day or a bad day is you!

In that moment I made the decision that the day was in front of me, it was only 8:30am. My full workday and my evening with my husband had not even started yet. I simply could not allow myself to continue in this negative manner. But how do I just change my mood?? It can’t be that simple. But it is! So I did the only thing I could do: Cranked up some wild music and danced it out the entire way to work. I have a Spotify Playlist Titled Happy that I save for moments exactly like this. The songs are silly and upbeat and fun.

To change your mood, you must change 2 things: Your environment and your outlook.

Changing your environment can be as simple as opening your windows to let the air in, putting on some upbeat music, lighting a candle, or leaving the room altogether and taking a walk can all be ways of changing your environment.

To change your outlook, you need to see things differently. Instead of seeing the day as rotten and horrible, try to find 5 things that are good about it. Is it Friday? Is the sun Shining? Do you have a really yummy lunch planned? Is your favourite co-worker going to be in today with you? Are you lucky to just have woken up and be breathing today? You need to find things that are good. No matter what if you look hard enough you will find what you are looking for. If you are searching for reasons that things are horrible, you will find them. However, the reverse is also true: If you search hard enough for good things you will find them.

By putting yourself in a new environment and changing the way you are looking at your situation, you can very quickly and easily change your mood.

Remember, it isn’t’ very often that someone truly has a bad day. I will admit, these things do happen. There are bad days and I am not saying that you need to be positive all the time, what I am simply pointing out is that we can control our outlook on life, and nobody likes the guy who has a dark cloud over his head all the time. If you are that guy, you will eventually wear down the people around you and they will not be able to be around you as much anymore. People like to be around positive people. Be the positive person in the room. It feels good, and it will attract more positivity.

Life Isn't abouy waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the Rain

No matter what happens in your day and what you are going through, you have the ability to control your actions and control your attitude and approach to the day. It is your responsibility and yours alone to change your attitude and outlook towards a particular situation.

Part of living a healthy life is having the ability to enjoy that life. Not every moment is going to be sunshine and roses so when the rain comes, crank up some dance music, roll down that window and thank God for the birds that are signing. Choose to have a great day!